Let’s face it, most small business owners start their business because they are passionate about what they do and they work tirelessly to grow their business and realize their vision. One of the biggest challenges for many business owners is finding quality expert advice to help them learn and understand what their financial and tax obligations are and how to read and use reports and KPIs (key performance indicators) to effectively manage their business.

While it’s always best to find and work with a qualified accounting professional, there is a wealth of free help and advice that you can leverage on the big ole internet. I’ve compiled a list of the five best accounting blogs I’ve found that can help you answer questions, learn accounting principles and keep you up to date on topics like accounting technology, best practices for bookkeeping and taxes.

What makes it awesome:Harold Averkamp, CPA, MBA blog is different than most, he has developed an entire curriculum to help small business owners, bookkeepers and accounting students learn accounting concepts in an easy to navigate course-like format. Rather than providing articles like a typical blog, his site includes accounting tutorials and extensive Q&A about each topic, along with practice quizzes and puzzles to reinforce your knowledge. There is also a paid version that includes cheat sheets, flash cards and formal tests on each topic.

Who it’s for: Anyone struggling to learn accounting concepts such as debits and credits or accrual vs cash basis accounting. Or if you are looking to learn how to read financial statements or reconcile a bank account. A cool feature is that it allows you to search for accounting terms and sort by various uses of each concept.

What makes it awesome:Seth David’s vision for Between Wall and Main was to provide small business owners a central place to find quality news, articles and educational resources to help them navigate the changing landscape of accounting technology and he nailed it! BWAM, as it’s 866 Facebook followers endearingly call it, features weekly blog articles written both by Seth and other contributing authors who are practicing accountants, business coaches and thought leaders in the accounting space.

BWAM’s unique spin is to take on big business topics like corporate strategy and market analysis (Wall Street) and illustrate how these topics affect and relate to the small business (Main Street). BWAM’s active community group on Facebook is where readers, contributors, and members can share tips, ask questions and network with each other.

Who it’s for: Small business owners looking to gain insight and direction in their business strategy, cutting edge business technology and emerging trends in the financial arena. It’s also a great resource for accountants and bookkeepers to learn about changes in technology and other accounting topics.

What makes it awesome:Accountingdepartment.com publishes content from various contributors that includes actionable advice that you can use to improve the bookkeeping and accounting practices in your business. Types of topics covered include understanding the various settings and workflows in QuickBooks accounting software to best practices in billing and collections. In addition to the blog, you can register for live webinars that tackle topics like job costing and how to analyze your P&L statement to identify discrepancies and areas of concern.

Who it’s for:Small business owners, bookkeepers, controllers and other accounting professionals looking for tips and resources about bookkeeping workflow procedures, proper accounting treatment of certain transactions, and the use of accounting technology.

What makes it awesome:What’s so amazing about Veronica’s blog is that she keeps her articles short and succinct, and is able to simplify even the most complex accounting concepts. She writes about topics such as how to find and hire the right bookkeeping or accounting professional, how to close the books in QuickBooks Online, or how and when to write off a bad debt – just to name a few of her articles. Her tutorials are straightforward, easy to follow and include lots of screenshots and infographics. She even includes video tutorials to go along with each article!

Who it’s for:Anyone looking to learn ways to save time on their accounting processes or looking for tips on how to record a tricky transaction in their QuickBooks software.

What makes it awesome:The GrowthForce blog focuses on providing tips and advice to help small businesses identify and understand financial and other metrics in their business that can be used to make better business decisions. You’ll find a wealth of information about managing your cash flow, finding and retaining the right employees and other topics that are relevant to any business owner. I adore how easy it is to navigate the blog, there are three ways to search for topics – by keyword, category or author. This makes it super easy to find what you are looking for. Some of the categories you can browse are Accounting System Design and Optimization, HR Profitability and Growth and Financial Intelligence, Reporting & KPIs.

Who it’s for:Small business owners and others who are looking to take their financial literacy to the next level and learn to dig deeper into their company’s financial metrics. Controllers and CFOs can find some great articles about what’s happening in the accounting industry here, too.

Accounting can be a difficult topic to wrap your mind around if you’re new to it. Hopefully, these five blogs will help you get the real world expertise you’re looking for to bring your accounting knowledge to the next level.